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“Thanks, Logan,” I said.

“Tamara is in the office, signing paperwork,” Logan said. “Did you have anything that they took from you?”

“My phone,” I said. “I don’t think I was wearing any jewelry or anything.”

The cell door opened, and I stood. Part of me was kind of sad to leave. So much had changed inside me while sitting there that I felt a special kind of connection to it. Besides, I was pretty sure Jesse had spent time in that cell at some point too. Just by virtue of there only being six of them if nothing else.

Among the various things I’d decided about how I was going to live my life going forward was the acknowledgement that I wasn’t going to hold back how I felt about people anymore. Namely Jesse. Which meant I was going to be as honest as I could be without being cruel. Tamara had already indicated she was fine with me and Jesse, but I needed to make sure, just for my own heart. She needed to know I was serious. I needed to know there would be no harsh feelings.

“Hey, you,” Tamara said as we made our way back into the intake area.

“Hey, I am going to marry Jesse,” I said, all as one thought.

“Uhh, what?”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. That wasn’t how that was supposed to come out.

“I mean, I made a decision,” I said. “I’m going to make a real go of this thing with Jesse. Like, serious serious. I need to know you are okay with that.”

She looked confused and taken aback, probably more for my forward attitude than what I was actually saying. I was usually so much more timid.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Like, for real. I got over my Jesse crush a long time ago. Knock yourself out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said, emphatically. “Jesse isn’t my target anymore.”

“Collin?” I laughed.

Her eyes flickered, and her face went very red. Suddenly, she became extremely interested in the paper she was signing. Slowly, I turned and saw Logan, hands in his pockets and staring out of the window, as if he had gone on standby, his brain powering down temporarily like a laptop. I turned back to my sister, who was handing the paper back to the deputy.

“Logan?”

“So, let’s get you out of here,” she said chipperly, clearly blowing by my observation.

“Wow,” I said. “I mean, I knew you had a thing for all the Galloway boys, but Captain Muscles?”

“Shut up, sis,” she said, mostly under her breath.

“Logan? Really? He has the personality of a steel beam!”

“Shut up, Charlotte,” she said, her voice going high in a sing-songy way. “And you don’t know him. He’s actually very interesting.”

“And you do?”

“I mean… I’ve been around a lot recently. We’ve… talked. About stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Things. Weather. Fire.”

“Uh huh.”

“He’sstupid hot, okay, Charlotte? Sometimes that’s enough.”

I raised my hands in surrender and laughed.

“All right, all right,” I said. “Enjoy the new crush.”